Monthly Archives: August 2017

by Henry Oliner “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.” Friedrich August von Hayek The difference between a liberal and a conservative is often just…

Mark Lilla is a committed Democrat who admonishes his party for the its descent into Identity Politics in The Once and Future Liberal- After Identity Politics The paradox of identity liberalism is that it paralyzes the capacity to think and…

from Scientific American, The Unfortunate Fallout of Campus Postmodernism- The roots of the current campus madness, by Michael Shermer: In a 1946 essay in the London Tribune entitled “In Front of Your Nose,” George Orwell noted that “we are all capable of believing things…

from an interview with Cory Doctorow in Reason Magazine, Cory Doctorow’s ‘Fully Automated Luxury Communist Civilization’: New at Reason Is it fair to say that science fiction writers are doing the same thing as a good economist or a good…

Mark Lilla is a committed Democrat who admonishes his party for the its descent into Identity Politics in The Once and Future Liberal- After Identity Politics Up until the 1960s, those active in liberal and progressive politics were drawn largely from…

From Deirdre McCloskey in Reason Magazine, The Myth of Technological Unemployment When a Ford plant installed robots, Walter Reuther, a long-ago president of the United Auto Workers union, is said to have asked a manager: “How are you going to get…

From The Wall Street Journal, Why the Left Can’t Let Go of Racism by Shelby Steele So today there is sweetness at the news of racism because it sets off the hunt for innocence and power. Racism and bigotry generally are the…

From Holman Jenkins at the WSJ, The Extremist Show Is Just Starting The city is a Democratic town, run by a Democratic machine. Its elections are typically settled in a Democratic primary. The GOP is a non-factor. Of the three…

from the Wall Street Journal, Mizzou Pays a Price for Appeasing the Left by Jillian Kay Melchior He was not alone. Thousands of pages of emails I obtained through the Missouri Freedom of Information Act show that many alumni and other…

This confederate monument controversy is the epitome of virtue signaling. Everyone gets to posture their moral supremacy while doing nothing to solve relevant problems like black unemployment, violence, dropout rate, poverty, single family homes, and health concerns. If removing these…

From Jonah Goldberg at National Review, The Last Straw Having written a whole book on the topic, I know that Rogen speaks for millions, including some of the great (and allegedly great) intellectuals of the 20th century. And yet, I…

from Kevin Williamson at National Review, Three and a Half More Years! Trump was, and is, unfit for the office he holds. He is also the duly elected president of the United States of America. Nothing since January has changed that.…

by Henry Oliner Both parties are fragmented, trying to assemble a consensus from groups that do not want to concede. Populist movements are defined by their demons. It is why they are prone to seduction by saviors. They would settle…

from the Scott Adams Blog, How To Know You’re In a Mass Hysteria Bubble A mass hysteria happens when the public gets a wrong idea about something that has strong emotional content and it triggers cognitive dissonance that is often supported…

From Jonah Goldberg at National Review, The Last Straw If Trump had a different character, I could imagine all sorts of scenarios in which he pivots, reboots, triangulates, or in some other way gets a do-over. But this week demonstrated…

From Kevin Williamson in NR, From Ritual to Bromance The United States of America is a big, diverse, complex modern country with big, diverse, complex modern problems. The most significant of those problems are never going to be “solved” because they…

by Henry Oliner In The National Review, Kevin Williams writes Let It Be. He addresses the myth that slavery was only a secondary issue that led to the Civil War, but does not hide the political opportunism that pollutes the…

From Jonah Goldberg at National Review, The Last Straw I have always believed that the Trump presidency would end badly because I believe character is destiny. There is no reasonable or morally sound definition of good character that Donald…

A book review by Henry Oliner Politics is little more than a marketplace of ideas. Like the markets for products and services it is more complex and nuanced than it appears, and resistant to central control. Competition serves us well…

from the editors of The Wall Street Journal, The Poison of Identity Politics A politics fixated on indelible differences will inevitably lead to resentments that extremists can exploit in ugly ways on the right and left. The extremists were on…